AU2003262495B2

AU2003262495B2 - Improvements in or Relating to Roller Doors

Info

Publication number: AU2003262495B2
Application number: AU2003262495A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Thomas John Stewart
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-11-26
Filing date: 2003-11-26
Publication date: 2009-10-08
Anticipated expiration: 2023-11-26
Also published as: NZ522833A; AU2003262495A1

Description

Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT, 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT ORIGINAL Name of Applicant: NORTH ROLL DOORS Actual Inventors; THOMAS JOHN STEWART Address for service A J PARK, Level 11, 60 Marcus Clarke Street, Canberra ACT in Australia: 2601, Australia Invention Title: Improvements in or Relating To Roller Doors The flowing statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us. 100054399_I -2 IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO ROLLER DOORS FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to improvements to roller door mechanisms. such 5 as for example of a sectional design or a continuous sheet style. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Mechanisms for closing of an opening via a roller door are well known in the art. Sectional doors are for example wound onto a tambour or drum that is axially 10 suspended above and near the opening which is to be closed off. The roller door is normally tracked in vertical guides at both sides of the opening which in conjunction with the out of plane stiffness of the roller door or sections of roller door provides for a resilient and stiff door covering which is also easily slidable. However when a roller door is being discharged from its tanbour, the diameter of the roll decreases. This 15 invariably changes (usually decreases) the angle of incidence of the tangent off the roll to the guides of the door. This decreasing angle leads to an increase in friction at the guides as the door is unrolled due to the increased horizontal component of force applied to the guides by the unrolling of the door. The same occurs as the door is being rolled back on to the tambour as this friction must be overcome also. Various 20 means have been used in the past to overcome this resulting friction such as spring means or powered means aiding or assisting the rolling and unrolling of the door, see for example NZ270920 of Advanced Door Systems. However these have the disadvantage of adding additional cost and weight to the door structure and assembly and do not address the problem of fiction itself. 25 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF TiHF INVENTION It is therefore an object of the invention to overcome at least to a certain extent at least some of the above disadvantages and improve the mechanism of the above prior art door or to at least provide the public with a useful alternative. 30 Accordingly in a first aspect the present invention consists in a roller door structure for a building comprising or including, - 3 a) a roller door assembly comprising or including; i) a tambour with at least one defined axis of rotation said tambour to be disposed at or proximate the top of an opening of a said building, and ii) a tambour supported roller door to cover said opening of said 5 building, said roller door being of a kind capable of being wound on and/or dispensed from said tambour, b) a pair of mounting members, each mounting member comprising or including: i) a slide support member engagable to and supportable by a fixed 10 structure of said building, ii) a slide member supported by and linearly displaceable relative to said slide support member, in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation, such that, in use, it is inclined to the horizontal and urged toward said opening, and 15 iii) a means to mount on or disposed from said slide member, by which said roller door assembly is mounted via at least one axle, wherein in use, and when said roller door is being wound on or dispensed from said tambour, the next to be dispensed or wound on section of roller door at the perimeter of the unrolled part of the roller door, is linearly displaccable relative said 20 opening by movement of said slide members in order to be kept parallel to said opening thereby reducing the friction and/or effort required to operate said roller door, wherein said movable slide member and said roller door carried thereby are urged towards said opening under action of gravity. Preferably said door section is kept at a substantially constant angle to said 25 opening. Preferably said slide member is linearly displaceable at an incline of betweeri 1 and 10 degrees to the horizontal. Preferably said slide member is linearly displaceable at an incline of 2 degrees to the horizontal. 30 Preferably inclination of said linear displacement is with the mounting means proximal ends to said opening being lower than the mounting means distal ends.

-4 Preferably weircin said linear displacement may be urged towards said opening by action of driving or biasing means, or a combination of means. Preferably said slide member is linearly displaceable to be urged towards said opening also under action of a driving or biasing means. 5 Preferably said biasing means is a coil spring acting on said tambour and on said slide member and/or said meais to mount. Preferably said slide support member is mounted to a wall, beam, joist or other support means. Preferably said linear displacement is provided by roller means engaging in said 10 slide support member and said movable slide member. Preferably said means to mount has adjustable means for engaging said roller door structure, at varying heights. Preferably said tambour rotates on an axle, said means to mount is a bracket and said axle is rotationally engaged thereon. 15 Preferably said means to mount each have a stub axle for said tambour to rotationally engage thereon. Preferably said tambour itself is engaged on its periphery by said means to mount in a rotationally engageable manner. Preferably said rotational engagement of said tambour, axle and means to 20 mount has a reduced friction interface. Preferably said opening lies in a substantially vertical plane. Preferably there are guides either side of said opening in said vertical plane. Preferably said guides are straight along their vertical length. Preferably said guides may be curvi-linear. 25 In an alternative aspect the present invention consists in a mounting means for a tambour door assembly of a kind including, a tambour with at least one defined axis of rotation extending axially there through, and a tambour supported roller door to cover an opening of said building, said roller 30 door supported by and to be rotationally dispensed from and received on said tambour, to move between a covered and uncovered condition of said opening, said mounting means comprising a first and second mounting member to be disposed at each distal end of the tambour wherein each mounting member comprises or includes: a slide support member, a slide member supported by and linearly displaceable to said slide support 5 member. and a means to mount engaged to said slide member and able to receive said tambour door assembly, wherein said slide member is linearly displaceable in a direction perpendicular to said axis of rotation and at an incline to the horizontal and is urged towards said 10 opening under action of gravity, wherein in use and when said roller door is being dispensed from or received by said tambour, the next to be dispensed or received section of roller door at a perimeter of the unrolled part of the roller door, is linearly displaceable relative said opening by said linear displacement of said movable slide members, to be kept 15 tangential to said opening thereby reducing the friction and/or effort required to operate said roller door. Preferably said slide member is linearly displaceable at an incline of between 1 and 10 degrees to the horizontal. Preferably said slide member is linearly displaceable at an incline of 2 degrees 20 to the horizontal. Preferably said inclination of said linear displacement is with the counting means proximal ends to said opening being lower than the mounting means distal ends. Preferably said linear displacement may be urged towards said opening by 25 action of driving or biasing means, or a combination of means. Preferably said slide member is linearly displaceable to be urged towards said opening also under action of a driving or biasing means, Preferably said biasing means is coil spring acting on said tambour and on said slide member and/or said means to mount. 30 Preferably said slide support member is mounted to a wall or other support means.

-6 Preferably said linear displacement is provided by roller means engaging in said slide support member and said movable slide member. Preferably said means to mount has adjustable means for engaging said tambour door assembly, at varying heights. 5 Preferably said opening lies in a substantially vertical plane. Preferably there are guides either side of said opening in said vertical plane. Preferably said guides arc straight along their vertical length. Preferably said guides may be curvi-linear. In a further aspect the present invention consists in a roller door configuration 10 as described herein with reference to any one or more of Figures 1 to 7, 10 and 11. In yet a further aspect the present invention consists in a building having a roller door structure as herein before described with reference to any one or more of Figures I to 7, 10 and 11. In still a further aspect the present invention consists in a mounting for a roller 15 door as described herein with reference to any one or more of Figures 1 to 7, 10 and 11. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference 20 to the following figures. Figure 1 shows an isometric view of the mounting, Figure 2 shows one mounting in situ with a roller door mounted on the bracket, the roller door is in the open position slide back on the mounting means, Figure 3 shows the roller door unwound closing the opening and the roller door 25 on the mounting slid forward, Figure 4 is a further end view of the door rolled up on the tambour, Figure 5 is a similar view to that of Figure 4 with the exception that the tambour is in the main unrolled and the sliding assembly has moved forward, Figure 6 is an isometric view cut away of that of Figure 5 with the door 30 unrolled showing the internal workings of the tambour axle and biasing means, Figure 7 is a further cut away front elevation of the roller door, - 7 Figure 8 shows a roller door construction and the angles in forces formed when the roller door is unrolled, Figure 9 shows a similar view to that of Figure 4 with the exception that the angle beta is increased as the diameter of the role decreases as more door material is 5 rolled off. Figure 10 is a similar view to that of Figure 4 for a moving roll as of the present invention, and Figure 11 shows the similar detail to Figure 6 with the exception that the roller door can now translate horizontally and illustrates the fact that the angle beta can be 10 kept constant for a decreasing roll radius. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION With reference to Figures 1 through 7 there is shown the mounting members 1 and roller door assembly 19. 15 The mounting members 1 each consists of a slide support member 3, slide member 4 and means to mount 8. The slide support member 3 is mounted to any suitable support. surface such as a wall, beam, joist or frame, or suspended framing system or similar, via fasteners at fastening points 6. The slide support members 3 are each mounted perpendicular to the plane of the opening. The slide member 4 is 20 slidably engaged via rollers (not shown) or similar means to the slide support member 3 to allow the slide member 4 to easily slide in relation to the slide support member 3. Thus the linear translation of the slide member 4 is perpendicular to the plane of the opening 9. Such linear translation means may be by roller balls, needle bearings or a greased slide way or similar. The shape of the slide support member 3 and slide 25 member 4 are complimentary in cross section so as to prevent disengagement of the two members. A stop 5 prevents the slide member 4 from sliding off the end of the slide support 3. The foregoing is only an example as any form that allows linear translation falls within the ambit of the invention. In use, a pair of mounting members 1 are mounted at suitable points either side 30 of the opening 9 to be closed, such that the axis of rotation of the tambour 11 is parallel to plane of the opening 9. Guides 10 (with "wool pile" 20) arc present for the roller door 7 either side of the opening. In one embodiment the means to mount are brackets 8 engaging on axle 26 attached to the tambour. The stowed door roll 2, rolled up on a tambour or drum 14 is hung on its axle 26 between the mounting brackets 8 at the correct height. The mounting height of the assembly 19 (consisting of the tambour 5 14, axle 26 and the stowed door roll 2) can be adjusted by use of the height adjustment means 12. In this exampLe they are slots to engage the axle 26, however they may take the form of a plurality of holes giving varying height or may be a mechanical means to vary the height, such as a threaded height adjustment, or any other form of adjustment known in the art. The roller door 7 is then installed into the guides 10. The roller door 10 assembly 19 is free to rotate about its axis 11. In other examples the rotational engagement of the tambour with the means to mount may be via stub axles extending into the tambour at the axis of rotation 11. The tambour may then rotate on these via reduced frictional means such as but not limited bea-ings, bushes greased rotational interface(s), or low friction polymers or other 15 means to reduce rotational friction known in the art, In another alternative the tambour may rest at its periphery (either internally or externally) on means to mount to allow it to rotate. Such may be achieved by one or more (preferably two) peripherally supporting internal or external rollers attached to the means to inounL In the internal case the rollers would be disposed above a 20 horizontal line passing through the axis of rotation II, one either side of a vertical line passing through the axis of rotation 11 against the internal tarnbour periphery. In the external case they would be disposed below the same horizontal line, one either side of the same vertical line against the external tambour periphery. Other methods for rotational engagement of the tarmbour to the means to mount that are known in the art 25 as also within the scope of the invention. The roller door 7 in the particular embodiment shown comprises door slats 22 fixed to a backing 23. The backing is in turn fixed via a keyway 21 in the tambour/drum 14, to maintain engagement and rotation of the drum as the door is unrolled. 30 In the preferred embodiment described herein the mounts 1 arc each inclined to the horizontal by an angle rc, thus with the weight of the door assembly 19 suspended -9 on the brackets 8 (or meant to mount) the roller door assembly is urged toward to opening under action of gravity. The angle cc is approximately 2 degrees but is variable between I degrees and 10 degrees depending upon the requirements of the installation. In other embodiments however the mounts may be horizontal and the 5 urging may achieved by other means such as a spring or other known biasing or driving means. A combination of any of these means may also be employed. In order to maintain even unrolling and unrolling tension a door tensioner 24 in the embodiment shown, lies within the tambour 14. The tensioner in this embodiment is a coil spring wound about the axle 26. The coil spring engages at one end by a flat 10 spade into/onto the mounting bracket 8. The other end of the coil spring attached to a key plate 25 which is matched to key way' internal of the tambour 14 (either that created internally by the intrusion into the interior of the tambour of external keyway 21, or by another separate internal key way). The key plate 25 can be free to slide axially into the tambour in response to the axial tension created by the spring coil and 15 uncoiling. A duplicate door tensioning arrangement may be on the other end of the door if required. Other fonus of tensioning system may be used provided they bias the rotation of the tambour door in relation to the brackets, or means to mount. The action of unrolling of the door to close the opening 9 results in a decreasing diameter of the stowed door roll 2. As this diameter decreases the roller door 20 assembly 19 is free to move forward under action of gravity and to some extent the horizontal component of force generated by the pull of the roller door 7. The moving forward of the assembly keeps the roller door 7, that is about to feed into the guides 10, tangential to the stowed door roll 2 and inline or at least at a fixed angle to the door guides 10. By keeping the roller door 7 in line with the guides 10 the friction over the 25 point 15 is reduced or eliminated thus making the raising and lowering of the door easier. When the door is rolled up to open the opening the diameter of the roll 2 increases and the assembly moves away from the opening to compensate and retain the section 7 at the required angle to the guides 10. 30 With reference to Figures 8 and 9 showing a prior art arrangement is shown of a simplified force analysis for the pull force (F,) required and the resulting normal force - 10 (F,) that creates in friction at the guide or point 15. For a given radius r] at the initiation of unrolling of the door from the roll there is an angle Pf which is formed between the guide 15 and the tangent release point 18 of the stowed door roll 2. A continued unrolling of the door will eventually result in a radius r 2 (which is less than 5 r,) which subtends an angle P? to the horizontal at the guide 15. As can be seen an increasing angle for the same pull force will result in a greater normal force Fe, at the guide. Whilst the pull force F, 2 will have an increasing component of self weight of the door as it is unrolled, nevertheless there is still an increased component of force required in that direction to overcome the normal force F.

2 . In the situation where the 10 roll, before unrolling, has the roll offpoint 18 directly over the guide (as in Figure 11) the door angle P will still decrease as the door is unrolled due to the decreasing radius and thus the roll off point 18 will move towards the static centre point 16. With reference to Figures 10 and 11 is shown an embodiment of the present invention whereby the stowed door roll 2 is allowed to translate in a horizontal manner 15 towards the point 15. In a similar situation to Figures 8 and 9 as the stowed door roll 2 is unrolled via a force supplied Fp 1 for a given radius r then an angle P, (in this example close to 90 degrees to reduce friction throughout unrolling) is subtended to the horizontal, In the optimal situation where the tangent release point 18 is kept directly above the guide 15 then essentially no friction force will result. However if a 20 point directly over can not be achieved due to space constraints, then at least a constant low friction force will be developed throughout rolling and unrolling. As the roller door is unrolled the radius of the roll r2 decreases (r 2 being less than r). However since the stowed door roll 2 is allowed to translate from its original position at 16 towards a final position 17 as it is unrolled the angle P2 is substantially similar to de 25 angle D3. It can therefore be seen that when the angle remains the same then the normal force 1 and Fn 2 will be equal. Again whilst Fp 2 will have an increasing component of self weight of the door as it is unrolled which aids in pulling the door down in comparison to Figure 9 the component from the user unrolling the door is significantly less than that in Figure 9, 30 due to the decreased normal force F, 2 in Figure 11.

Claims

1. A roller door structure for a building comprising or including, a) a roller door assembly comprising or including; i) a tambour with at least one defined axis of rotation said tambour to be 5 disposed at or proximate the top of an opening of a said building, and ii) a tambour supported roller door to cover said opening of said building, said roller door being of a kind capable of being wound on and/or dispensed from said tambour, b) a pair of mounting members, each mounting member comprising or 10 including: i) a slide support member engagable to and supportable by a fixed structure of said building, ii) a slide member supported by and linearly displaceable relative to said slide support member, in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation, 15 such that, in use, it is inclined to the horizontal and urged toward said opening, and iii) a means to mount on or disposed from said slide member, by which said roller door assembly is mounted via at least one axle, wherein in use, and when said roller door is being wound on or dispensed from 20 said tambour, the next to be dispensed or wound on section of roller door at the perimeter of the unrolled part of the roller door, is linearly displaceable relative said opening by movement of said slide members in order to be kept parallel to said opening thereby reducing the friction and/or effort required to operate said roller door, wherein said movable slide member and said roller door carried thereby are 25 urged towards said opening under action of gravity.

2. A roller door structure as claimed in claim 1 wherein said slide member is linearly displaceable at an incline of between 1 and 10 degrees to the horizontal.

3. A roller door structure as claimed in any one of claims I to 2 wherein said slide 30 member is linearly displaceable at an incline of 2 degrees to the horizontal. - 12

4. A roller door structure as claimed in claim 1 wherein said slide member is linearly displaceable to be urged towards said opening also under action of a driving or biasing means.

5. A mounting means for a tambour door assembly of a kind including, 5 a tambour with at least one defined axis of rotation extending axially there through, and a tambour supported roller door to cover an opening of said building, said roller door supported by and to be rotationally dispensed from and received on said tambour, to move between a covered and uncovered condition of said opening, said mounting 10 means comprising a first and second mounting member to be disposed at each distal end of the tambour wherein each mounting member comprises or includes: a slide support member, a slide member supported by and linearly displaceable to said slide support member, and 15 a means to mount engaged to said slide member and able to receive said tambour door assembly, wherein said slide member is linearly displaceable in a direction perpendicular to said axis of rotation and at an incline to the horizontal and is urged towards said opening under action of gravity, 20 wherein in use and when said roller door is being dispensed from or received by said tainbour. the next to be dispensed or received section of roller door at a perimeter of the unrolled part of the roller door, is linearly displaceable relative said opening by said linear displacement of said movable slide members, to be kept tangential to said opening thereby reducing the friction aid/or effort required to 25 operate said roller door.

6. A mounting means for a tambour door assembly as claimed in claim 5 wherein said slide member is linearly displaceable at an incline of between 1 and 10 degrees to the horizontal.

7. A mounting means as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 6 wherein said slide 30 member is linearly displaceable at an incline of 2 degrees to the horizontal. - 13

8. A mounting means as claimed in claim 5 wherein said slide member is linearly displaceable to be urged towards said opening also under action of a driving or biasing means.

9. A roller door configuration as described herein with reference to any one or 5 more of Figures I to 7, 10 and 11.

10. A building having a roller door structure as herein before described with reference to any one or more of Figures I to 7, 10 and 11.

11. A mounting for a roller door as described herein with reference to any one or more of Figures I to 7, 10 and 11. 10 EDITORIAL NOTE APPLICATION NUMBER - 2003262495 This specification does not contain pages 14 to 16